One of Kunsthaus Tacheles walls. The graffiti says
"Where is Captain Nemo?"The Kunsthaus Tacheles is an art center and
nightclub that was opened in East Berlin after the Berlin Wall came down
in the spring of 1990. Tacheles is a large (9000 square meter) building
on Oranienburger Straße in the district known as Mitte. The exterior of
the building was damaged from shelling in World War II, and much of the
damage was never repaired. Huge, colorful graffiti-style murals are
painted on the exterior walls, and modern art sculptures are featured
inside.

Tacheles was originally occupied by a number of international
artists, performers and musicians before becoming an art centre with a
cafe, cinema, performance space, workshops and exhibition space. In the
beginning it was run by well-known curator Jochen Sandig who expanded
the building considerably. In its early days, Tacheles provided both
housing and work space for its artist residents. In 1991, the associated
housing burnt down, and there was considerable suspicion that the fire
was started deliberately in order to pave the way for a new art centre.
Among the early exhibitors were artist Mark Divo, sculptors the Mutoid
Waste Company, musicians Spiral Tribe, theatre group DNTT, performance
artist Lennie Lee, dancer/ choreographer Sasha Waltz, Ramm Theater, and
many others.

Tacheles provided inspiration for a scene in the German film Good
Bye Lenin!!, according to commentary by director Wolfgang Becker on the
US DVD release.

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View to the back side of the Tacheles. The Tacheles (Yiddish =
talk turkey) is a multi cultural self-governing culture project. This
former luxury department store was saved from demolition due to
squatting by about 50 artists. Up to 1981 the building was the only
repertory cinema of the former capital of the GDR named Camera. The
future of the dilapidated building is uncertain.

The History of TACHELES

“Tacheles” is an old Jewish word meaning to disclose, to reveal or to
speak clearly. The slang meaning of the word was bringing to an end.

The Art-Centre Tacheles is situated in a ruin in Berlin Mitte.
Located in former East Berlin, the area was a Jewish quarter in the past
and has now become a meeting point for people interested in arts and
culture and for those who think they are.

The building itself was the entrance of the Friedrichstadt-Passage, a
huge shopping mall built in 1907.

Within a relatively short time, the department store went bankrupt,
and in 1928 the house was taken over by AEG, that founded the Haus der
Technik, a display and marketing space for their products.

In Word War II parts of the building were used by the Nazi Party for
administration and organization departments, and in the 5th floor French
prisoners of war were detained.

Between 1943 and 1945 during the allied air raids the building was
hit by bombs several times and got partly damaged, but not completely
destroyed.

After 1948, one side of the building was still used for many
different purposes, but the other side was slowly torn down,
step-by-step, as the East Berlin government had no funds to restore it
properly and for the distant future they had other plans for this area.
So meanwhile, the house became just a storage for building material. The
very last structure still standing was planned to be demolished in April
1990.

In Febuary 1990 the building was discovered and taken over by a group
of young artists from all over the world and in the meantime it has been
declared a historical architectural monument, regarding its special
steel construction.

After the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989, a subculture which
had its main focus on autonomy, spontaneity and improvisation arose in
the former East Berlin areas Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain.
Artists and individualists from all over the world used the plurality of
available free spaces to put alternative lifestyles to the test.

Due to the individualistic character of the building and the mass of
creative activities taking place, the Tacheles soon became famous. Right
from the start, Tacheles was a centre of development and realization of
individual ways of thinking, of the creative contamination of art and
living as well as the testing of artistically and urban ideas. Many
international artists staged performances or concerts here, exhibited
paintings, sculptures and installations. This essential thought still
exists today and the program was even extended further by staging and
organizing performances, theatre, various workshops, poetry and special
events.

During its existence, Tacheles in its function as an international
arts centre has greatly influenced and formed the surrounding area in a
positive as well as in a negative sense. By now the once creative
surrounding area has mutated to a napless trend quarter.

Tacheles also attained recognition from the Berlin government and
receives a varying amount of subsidy every year in order to help finance
a part of its many projects. Other money is raised through commercial
enterprises such as the cinema and the bar.

Because of its special architecture and the “ruin appearance” of the
rearside and due to its 13 years of activities in the international arts
field, “Kunsthaus Tacheles” became quite a celebrity on a national and
international scale and is also listed in many travel guides of Berlin.

In the course of changes since the wall came down, Tacheles has been
confronted with the difficult challenge of remaining true to its roots
and ideals without becoming too sentimental about the old squatter
times.